Fellow travellers?

An international conference was held in Algiers to show solidarity between European socialists and social democrats and all those fighting for a real Arab Spring.

It is not easy being a progressive socialist with liberal values, especially if you are on the international conference circuit. A few socialist members of the European Parliament were recently invited to a conference in Algiers, “For a Progressive Maghreb”. Attendees included Hannes Swoboda, leader of the Socialists and Democrats group, and his colleagues Véronique de Keyser, Antonio Panzeri and Gilles Pargneaux.

Swoboda said the event was meant to “assure the Arab people of the solidarity between European socialists and social democrats and all those fighting for a real Arab Spring”. The conference also included the first secretary-general of the Socialist Forces Front in Algeria, Ali Laskri.

However, when they went to board their flight from Brussels to Algiers, the socialist MEPs encountered a moral dilemma. It quickly became apparent that another passenger on the flight that they were booked on did not want to be there: he was being deported back to Algeria as an illegal migrant.

De Keyser refused to board the plane, explaining to the crew that a group of Socialist MEPs travelling to Algeria for a conference of progressives cannot ethically do so on a plane that is carrying a screaming man against his will back to Algeria.

Swoboda, on the other hand, reasoned that whether the MEPs were on the flight or not, the man would be deported – since his deportation was out of their control. After a lengthy discussion, it was finally decided that the illegal migrant would be sent back on a different flight, one guaranteed to be free of Socialist MEPs.